1972-1974: Ziggy Stardust and His Diamond Dogs
“MOONAGE DAYDREAM” FROM THE ZIGGY STARDUST MOTION PICTURE
What you’re seeing above is the height of David Bowie’s ascent. “Moonage Daydream” one of part of the fabric which would adorn Bowie’s first true masterpiece, 1972’s Glam opus The Rise and Fall… you know the rest, cemented him as the Queen of this new kind of genre melting music. Joining others all the way from Marc Bolan’s T. Rex, Roy Wood’s Wizzard, to Roxy Music and late comers like Sweet and Slade, this was the album that exemplified what this whole new world of Rock meeting Fashion and Art (all in capital words and meaning) meant.
Over here on E Street, we’re feeling the great loss of David Bowie. David was a visionary artist and an early supporter of our music.
— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) January 11, 2016
For once, many of these outcasts now were characters that people wanted be and world others wanted to live in. So prolific was the world of Bowie that he’d gladly provide songs like “All the Young Dudes” to Mott the Hoople, or aid others like Lou Reed in Transformer in their quest to present new versions of themselves. As Ziggy gave way to Aladdin Sane, David once again was starting to feel a certain amount of typecasting. Partly of his own making, killing off Ziggy in 1973 only lead to a thirsty audience who wanted another variation of the same flavor.
zZ SAMPLER: DAVID BOWIE 1972-1974
Now a slave to a certain excess, it seemed like 1973’s Pinups was owning to playing to his audience. As other bands and musical styles started to catch up and overpass the lackluster shine of his latest releases, once again David realized another change was needed. Pinups showed him trying to pay homage to many of the influential bands he had heard before, all to mostly disastrous results. Diamond Dogs tried to right the ship by going too far in the other direction, into serious art.
DAVID BOWIE AND “REBEL REBEL” ON DUTCH TV
Although, it’s a hodgepodge of triumphant songs and songs that are heavy on artifice with little to show for it, Diamond Dogs showed David realized that beyond his crafted image there existed music that needed to be more evenly curated and constructed. If he was edging parody, he had to find somewhere new to hang his hat in.
